1. Prior Art
The following is a tabulation of some prior art that presently appears relevant:
  980,880—January 1911Mueller—1,202,222 —October 1916Quinn—3,010,474 —November 1961Moen137/3593,427,049 —February 1969Politz285/46 3,790,966 —February 1974Keane 4/1924,186,761 —February 1980Guarnieri137/3154,281,857 —August 1981Randall285/34 4,852,192 —August 1989Viegener 4/1915,010,922 —April 1991Agresta137/3595,050,246 —September 1991Huntoon 4/1925,232,008 —August 1993Jeffress (Moen Inc.)137/15 5,375,272 —December 1994Mikol (Moen Inc.) 4/6955,388,287—February 1995Tischler (Ecowater) 4/6785,465,749—November 1995Sauter 137/359(Sterling Plumbing) 5,515,882—May 1996Hennis137/3155,535,776—July 1996Kingman 137/359(Moen Inc.)5,946,746—September 1999Bloom (Emhart) 4/6756,209,153B1April 2001Segien, Jr. (Emhart) 4/6956,220,278B1April 2001Sauter (Kohler)  137/315.126,385,798B1May 2002Burns (Moen Inc.) 4/6756,631,730B1October 2003Bloom (Emhart)137/3596,792,629B2September 2004Nelson (Masco) 4/6952005/0251907A1November 2005Mintz 4/6957,003,818B2February 2006McNerney (Masco) 4/6952006/0049633A1March 2006McBride285/3907,039,966B1May 2006Cranston 4/6952006/0200904A1September 2006Vogel 4/6957,174,581B2February 2007McNerney (Masco) 4/695
2. Discussion of Prior Art
At least from 1911 (Mueller, 980,880), the difficulty of reaching nuts and bolts when repairing or replacing attachments (such as faucets, spray hoses and the like) on already installed sinks, tubs or showers has been recognized.
Sinks are commonly affixed to cabinet counters and a sink's attachments, including faucet assemblies and spray hoses, are secured to the sink's rear flange with mounting nuts from below the sink/counter.
In addition, the coupling nuts (usually compression nuts) connecting the water supply hoses to the tailpieces of the faucets are themselves under the sink in close proximity to the mounting nuts.
If the connections for the faucets or other attachments have to be examined to determine the source of a leak or if the attachments need to be replaced, the installer must get at those nuts from under the sink. This is the problem.
To remove, or even to examine, such nuts and bolts the installer, after removing all the household cleaners and other items usually stored under the sink, must lie on his/her back in the small enclosure of the cabinet and look up into the narrow and dark space between the sink and the wall where the nuts and bolts are located. If the faucets have to be removed the installer must work in this narrow space which does not allow for manipulation of an ordinary wrench in order to loosen or tighten the nuts and bolts. Special, though still inefficient, tools, such as basin wrenches, must be used to unlock the nuts, which may even have been corroded and frozen over time. Similarly, the installer must endure the same process when installing replacements faucets.
Each of the potentially relevant patents cited above as prior art recognized this problem and described it in various ways (see, for example, Mueller, 980,880; Politz, 3, 427,049; Keane, 3,790,966; Guarnieri, 4,186,761; Randall, 4,281,857; Viegener, 4,852,192 and Mikol, 5,375,272).
While all of the prior art dealt with solving the problem described above, none has suggested construction of sinks with a detachable section such as my solution proposes. Each prior attempt primarily focuses on a variation of faucet configuration in order to be able to mount the faucets and related attachments from above the sink/counter (for example: Sauter, 6,220,278: “Top Mounting Faucet Assembly;” Keane, 3,790,966: “Quick-Change Faucet;” Bloom, 6,631,730: “Quick Install Faucet Body”), except that the Cranston faucet assembly solution (7,039,966) would in addition require a serious modification to the sink's rim or flange as well (a cutting at the rear flange of the sink which would eliminate all the pre-drilled faucet/attachment openings). The term “top mounted” in this regard is to be distinguished from use of the same term to refer to the location of the water mixing manifold, now commonly housed in the faucet assembly above the sink, (see, for example, Krippendorf, 4,848,395).
These prior attempts to solve the problem described above have failed to do so, notwithstanding the long and broadly recognized nature of the problem. The related manufacturing industry is aware of the problem as indicated by the fact that major sink and faucet manufacturers have been assigned one or more of the cited patents which attempted to solve the problem (for example, Moen: Jeffess, 5,232,008; Mikol, 5375,272 and Kingman, 5,535,776; Kohler: Sauter, 6,220,278).
Whether these solutions were too complicated, too expensive, not reliable or for some other reason, the fact is that today one cannot readily find a “top mounted” faucet assembly as described in the prior art or anything like it. On a recent inspection, for example, at a Lowe's store (Brick, N.J.) the Applicant did not find ONE faucet among the approximately 100 faucet displays that could be mounted from above the sink. Similarly, a review of Home Depot's website also fails to reveal any such “top mounted” faucets. Both “do it yourselfers” as well as plumbers (people skilled in the art), therefore, are still in the same position as described by Mueller in 1911.